Chinese Galaxy S4 variant shows up in video

As Samsung gets another day closer to the launch of the Galaxy S4, a supposed Chinese variant of the upcoming phone stole some thunder recently by showing up on camera. Today, you get a lot more to look at as the owner of this smartphone released a video to help prove the legitimacy of his claim.

So far this year very few manufacturers have kept to a specific design language. If you take a look at the BlackBerry Z10 or the HTC One, these phone are wildly different in design from what has been expected from either company in the past. Everyone is looking for lighter, thinner, stronger phones with the best screen and the best battery life.

What each of these new handsets have in common is they are endlessly compared. More often than not though, users are still interested in comparing these phones to the Galaxy S3 . The comparison isn’t usually about specs, either. The design of the Galaxy S3 is both iconic and unique to Samsung, and is popular enough that it should surprise no one to see that the Galaxy S4 looks nearly identical to the S3.

The video offers a quick rundown of a version of the Galaxy S4 that is unlikely to be seen outside of China — the dual-SIM design just isn’t used in many other places.

When the phone boots, you can see the TouchWiz flavored Android 4.2.1, complete with lockscreen widgets and other visual cues to the latest version of Android. As the phone is used, you see much more of Samsung’s version of Android, including the “natural” sounds and animations. The camera is shown off for a brief moment, but not much is gained from that bit of the video. All told, the experience looks and feels like a slight bump all around and not a major overhaul or a reinvention.

While some may have been looking for a brand new look and feel from Samsung, it’s important to remember that they have a product that works right now. They don’t have to guess anymore, their hardware is selling better than any other Android phone right now and very few of their customers seem to mind their version of Android. Samsung’s presentation for the Galaxy S4 will likely focus on software improvements, like the eye scrolling and other gesture systems. Whether or not this will hurt Samsung in the coming year has yet to be seen.

Now read: Possible Galaxy S4 photos pop up just before official launch